Kansas City blanked by Gerrit Cole; Yankees beat the Royals for second straight night
Carlos Hernández escaped with minimal damage despite seemingly having a small village on the bases throughout the night.
Kansas City’s starting pitcher worked out of multiple high-pressure situations against a dangerous New York Yankees lineup, but the Royals’ offense couldn’t generate a single run against ace Gerrit Cole or the visitors’ bullpen. The result was a 3-0 Royals loss in front of an announced 23,965 in the second game of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday night.
It’s the second time this season the Royals were shut out. And now they will try to avoid being swept on Sunday afternoon.
Royals rookie Bobby Witt Jr. extended his hitting streak to nine games, and Hunter Dozier’s double was the club’s only extra-base hit.
Dozier went 2 for 4 and Edward Olivares went 2 for 4 with an infield single. Whit Merrifield walked twice.
The Royals (7-12) went 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position, left eight men on base and were scoreless through six innings against the four-time All-Star Cole.
They’ve now left 64 runners on base in their last seven games (9.1 per/game).
“Guys are struggling, guys want to help,” Merrifield said. “We’re struggling as a group. When that happens and a situation comes up where you can help the team, you want it so bad it almost takes you out of your whole game plan. That’s hard to tone back and step back and focus on your job, what makes you successful, focus on getting a good pitch and making a good swing. …
“Everyone wants to hit a three-run homer right now, that’s just the way it is. We’re not scoring runs. Everyone wants to take it into their own hands and be the one to breakthrough for us. When you don’t try is when it seems to happen. It’s a lot easier said than done. Trust me. It’s a lot easier said than done.”
The Royals loaded the bases in the third inning with two outs, but Salvador Perez hit an inning-ending ground ball.
The only other time they put more than one runner on base against Cole came in the sixth after a one-out single by Carlos Santana followed by a Dozier double. That put runners on second and third with one out.
But Witt and Kyle Isbel struck out looking, both frozen on 98-mph fastballs, to end the inning and strand both runners in scoring position.
“You know he’s going to bear down. He made some pretty good pitches when he got into a bind,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Cole. “But we had some opportunities. We had some pitches to maybe make something happen and didn’t. We had a couple chances with men on second and third or bases loaded. Against a pitcher like that, you’re just waiting for the big hit.
“Only once did we have it with less than two outs, but still you’re just trying to flip something in there and put pressure on them. But he made good pitches when he needed to.”
Hernández worked around traffic
Hernández allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and five walks in four innings. He also struck out three.
The five walks matched the total from his previous three starts combined, and four innings marked his shortest outing of the season.
“He limited the damage,” Matheny said. “He came out of the gate, and I thought he was going to be really good. The curveball and slider were both working for him. The fastball just started sailing a little bit.
“But it comes down to the same thing, working behind in counts and all of a sudden the free bases. You give up five walks to a potent offense and it’s eventually gonna cost you.”
The Yankees (15-6) loaded the bases with no outs in the inning on a leadoff single by Gleyber Torres, a walk by Aaron Hicks and a single by Joey Gallo.
However, Hernández got the fourth batter of the inning, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, to ground into a double play as they traded the two outs for one run.
Then with two down and a runner on third, Hernández got an inning-ending grounder back to the mound. The bases-loaded jam with no outs only cost him one run.
The Yankees loaded the bases again in the third, this time with one out, thanks to the help of a pair of questionable check swings that weren’t called strikes. Both times those calls led to walks.
The first of those walks, to Josh Donaldson, turned into a run when Donaldson tagged and scored from third on a sacrifice fly by Torres with the bases loaded. The inning ended when Anthony Rizzo got caught stealing attempting to steal third base.
Perez caught two runners stealing in the game, the 16th time in his career he’s done so and the first time since August 14, 2021, against St. Louis.
“Yes, that definitely affected me,” Hernández said of the check swings. “It’s just, it’s part of the game. Then I started thinking about controlling what I can control and got back to it and kept going.”
The Yankees loaded the bases twice in the first three innings, but Hernández gave up just two runs.
Hernández’s pitch count also climbed quickly as he piled up five walks before he recorded an out in the fourth inning. That first out came on a sacrifice fly to center field by Kiner-Falefa to make the Royals’ deficit 3-0 after a leadoff walk and a single started the inning.
Hernández finished the fourth inning and kept the score 3-0, but his night ended there having thrown 90 pitches (50 strikes).
“I just want to be able to help the team out, and you do that by going at least five (innings),” Hernández said. “It didn’t happen today. That’s something that I need to work on.”
Relief pitchers Joel Payamps (two innings) and Ronald Bolaños (three innings) each worked multi-inning scoreless outings.
“Obviously, after a game like tonight where we don’t score, Carlos fights for us, Payamps and Bolaños do a great a job of keeping a good offense to three runs, it would’ve been nice to do something offensively to give ourselves a change to be in that game,” Merrifield said.
“So yeah, we’re a little frustrated right now, but it’s not carrying over. I can tell you that. We’re an optimistic group. We feel good about the guys we have regardless of how we’ve been playing.”
The team’s conclude their series on Sunday afternoon. The pitching matchup puts Yankees right-hander Luis Severino (2-0, 3.32) on the hill against Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch (2-1, 3.38).
This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 9:36 PM.
